once we were kings

It's not a competition
I just want you to know
Once upon a smile
These dark skins were king
No banana peel
Shape shifter pods
We were the mules
Of a whipping sun
Whose volcanic flame
Would make you hide
In the very dark
Where fear itself eats.
Shhh! Let me tell
You a story
Not of backstory
Or cotton farms
Ripe with alarm
That you came
From a line
Where Jesus sat,
A nappy haired man
Who hunkered for chain
Then came the strain
Of things being removed
Ink rebel rebels
Would dance their groove
And army's would bulk
More unafraid
Refusing to be
Slave to shame
Or the bitter resentment
Of topsy turvy worlds,
Where cane would arrive
And spirits would soak
Yesterday's thoughts
We held our marbles
We couldn't be bought